`Ease of Doing Biz'' becomes avenue for corruption in Maharashtra

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, December 1

The Central Government's push to improve India's rank in the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business' index has opened up fresh avenues for corruption in Maharashtra's civic bodies, official investigations showed.

Two years ago, the Maharashtra Government was nudged by the central government to make it easier for businesses to obtain construction permits and other approvals from municipalities and local bodies. Under this policy, permission is deemed granted if officials take no action within ten days of application.

"It was felt that the policy of ‘deemed approval’ would help reduce delays and allow easier approvals from civic bodies, thus helping India get a higher rank under the Ease for Doing Business index," a state government official said.

Several departments—including the industries department at Mantralaya, the fire brigade, and the notorious building proposals department of the BMC that approves of new constructions in the city—were brought under the "deemed approval" provision.

Investigations conducted by officials found that corrupt officials would simply pass over violations by sitting on applications from builders, restaurants and other business establishments to allow "deemed approval" to take effect.

The most glaring violation came to light when a fire at the Kamala Mills in Central Mumbai last December claimed 14 lives.

"At least nine officials from the BMC were found to have overlooked violations by restaurants in the premises and were given licenses under the Ease of Doing Business policy," a state government official said.

Among the officials found guilty of dereliction of duty include several from the fire, health, sanitation and engineers from the civic body. Investigations found that some officials didn’t conduct the physical inspections that rules say are necessary even after permissions are granted.

However, there are rumours in the restaurant industry that officials continue to raid establishments under various archaic laws to extort money from them.